Abstract

HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTERS STRENGTHENING PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN INDIA- CHALLENGES AND WAY FORWARD

Dr. Abhilasha Dhyani*, Dr. Swecha Choudhary, Dr. Sarvesh Dave and Dr. Sagar Sharma

Abstract

Primary health care is the backbone of health care delivery world over. The vision of primary health care is one of comprehensive, integrated, accessible to all, contextually relevant health care rooted in the needs of the community. There are considerable challenges to operationalizing concepts in the delivery of primary health care, especially in low and middle-income countries like India. The epidemiological shift in disease burden characterized by an increase in non-communicable diseases is one such major challenge. A deficit of trust between patients and providers, lack of financial resources and poor governance for primary health care are other challenges in the Indian context. The WHO’s primary health care operational framework identifies “levers” as key elements that need to be addressed to operationalize primary health care in countries. I use this framework to identify opportunities to overcome the challenges identified in this paper relevant to the Indian context. Reorientation of the health care delivery systems to deliver chronic care is required due to the increase in disease burden. This is also an opportunity to empower communities that are central to primary health care as patients need to self-manage their disease conditions more than ever before. Political will, governance structures for multisectoral action, community participation and implementation research will be required for primary health care in India.

Keywords: .